Basting, roasting and other such cooking procedures often require coating the food product with butter or oleomargarine; likewise, bread, corn on the cob, and the like often are coated with butter or the like before eating.
Accordingly, the container art has many examples of containers for storing and dispensing semi-soft sticklike products, such as butter or oleomargarine. See, for example, the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,980,247, 3,162,884 and 3,374,048. All of these devices are intended to make dispensing of such products easy and efficient.
While such devices often work well, they still have deficiencies that inhibit their full commercial acceptance. For example, these devices are often difficult to use and control for a person whose hands are handicapped, as by arthritis or the like. The pressure required to force the butter out of the container may simply be too great for one handed pressure for such a person, and the known dispensers simply are not amenable to efficient and comfortable operation using two hands.
A still further drawback to many such known dispensers is the difficulty associated with the cleaning thereof. It is difficult, especially for one whose hands are not supple, to fully clean such dispensers. Because of the tubular nature of those dispensers, a cleaning device or tool must be inserted into the tubular container and manipulated to effect the full cleaning of the inside surfaces of the container. Insertion and manipulation of such cleaning tools may be difficult for some people whereby all internal surfaces of the container are not fully cleaned in all situations.
Accordingly, there is a need for a container for storing and dispensing semi-soft sticklike food products, such as butter, oleomargarine, or the like, which is easily manipulated and cleaned, as by a person whose hands and fingers may be handicapped.